RIGA– CAPITAL OF LATVIA

The city of Riga was the last destination of our journey through the Baltic Sea states. In the evening we set off on a ferry from Stockholm to Riga. On the next day the ferryboat arrived in Riga. At the port Madam Ilsa – our Latvian guide – was meeting us. Riga welcomed us by sunny weather, and having boarded a car, we right away were plunged into an exciting story about Riga, its centuries-long history, culture, arts, people and events of this beautiful city. Every single word of it was interesting. In the guide’s speaking we could sense her love for her native town, its history, its people, and her profession.

Riga (Latvian – Rīga) — is the capital of Latvia and biggest city of the Baltic States. As of 2010, Riga’s population was more than 705 thousand people. The city is situated on both banks of the Western Dvina (Daugava), not far from the river’s isthmus into the Riga Bay.

There is a legend speaking about Riga’s origin. Once, in ancient times, when Riga was not existing yet, a huge man –– the Big Kristaps (Christopher) — carried people across the Daugava in the place where the city is located now. On the right bank of the Daugava he built a little house for himself. Once he woke up at night because he heard a child crying on the left bank. Right away he went to the baby in order to carry it across the river. In the middle of the river the child became so heavy that the giant was hardly able to carry him to the right bank; having done this, he laid the baby to sleep beside him.

In the morning when he woke up, on the spot where the baby was lying there was a big chest with money. Kristaps (Christopher) kept this money until his very death, and after he died it was used for construction of the city. The first houses of Riga were built on the site where once Big Kristaps’ (Christopher’s) little house stood. Now on the embankment a glass booth stands with a statue of a huge man with a little child on his shoulder.

Riga’s history is more than eight centuries long; it is full of dramatic events confirmed by many chronicles, embodied in monuments, traditions, songs, recollections and stories.

Archeological finds in the territory of Riga bear witness of the fact that as early as in XII century there was an inhabited place here. In the isthmus of the Ridzene River flowing into the Daugava, in the vicinity of today’s Albert Square there was a broadened area, the so-called Riga Lake. This place was suitable for a haven, so in its vicinity settlements of local tribes –– kurshes and livs –– appeared.

In the end of XII, when German traders began to enlarge and strengthen the area of their activities on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, crusaders also appeared here. Their first leader bishop Berthold died in a fight near Riga’s Ancient Mountain. In a record of this event by chronicler Indrikis, the word “Riga” for the first time was mentioned in chronicles. The following bishop, Albert, in 1201 moved from Ikshil to Riga and after negotiations with the local livs bean to build a fortified settlement near the Riga Lake. So, 1201 is the official year of Riga’s foundation. As soon as in 1202, the first colonizers –– German burgers –– came to the city. Gradually Riga became the base for aggressions against the local Baltic nations. In XIII century, trade blossomed in Riga, and the city became one of the main mediators between the West and the East.

All the way up to XVI century, discords over the rights of authority in the city between Riga’s dwellers themselves –– bishop, the Order of the Sword (Later Livonian Order) and Riga’s burgers –– did not cease and from time to time issued in military conflicts.

As a result of the Livonian war (1558-1583), after the fall of Livonian statehood, in 1581 Riga ended up under control of Poland. Later, during the war between Poland and Sweden (1600-1629), in 1621, after fierce resistance Riga was conquered by the Swedes, and the city became an administrative center of the part of the Baltic region belonging to Sweden. The beginning of XVIII century was marked with the Northern war (1700-1721), in which Russia and Sweden fought for domination in the Baltic Sea. As a result, after a long siege and an epidemic of plaque in 1710 Riga ended up under Russian control.

In the second half of XVIII century, industry rapidly developed in Riga, while German guilds lost their monopoly position in industry and trade. In XIX century, Riga became one of the main port cities of the Russian Empire and an important railway connection. Riga’s territory in the second half of XIX – beginning of XX centuries, increased ten times, and the number of inhabitants in 1913 is eighty times as much as it was in the beginning of XVIII century. During this time Riga became the second largest city in the western part of Russia after Saint Petersburg.

The turning point in Riga’s development occurred in 1915-1917, when with the beginning of the WWI Riga became a frontline city. Around 200 thousand workers along with their family members together with industrial manufactories were evacuated from Riga to the inland parts of Russia.

At the concluding stage of the WWI a possibility arose for proclaiming independent Latvian Republic, which in a difficult political situation was declared on November 18 of 1918. In Latvia liberation war began, during which in 1918-1919 at the change of three different political regimes Riga was seriously damaged. After August of 1920, devastated Riga became the capital of equally devastated Latvian Republic. In 1920-1930s, Riga developed and became a trading center as well as a center of consumer goods and food industry as well as of culture and education.

On June 17 of 1940, Soviet tanks entered into Riga –– the Soviet Union occupied Latvia.

During the WWII, the old part of Riga was seriously damaged; the port and railway communications were destroyed. After the war Riga became one of the biggest centers of the western part of the Soviet Union, where in accordance with plans of industrialization light industry developed as well as factories of military-industrial complex.

To provide manpower for the newly created factories, a mass migration of people from other republics of the Soviet Union began, which issued in increase of Riga’s population since 1950 until 1980 sevenfold.

Latvia’s independence was reestablished in 1991 at the fall of the Soviet Union.